The coaching team had made a few changes to the starting lineup after last week’s bruising semi-final. In the forwards Sam Moore started at prop with Owen Roberts taking a place in the second row while Daniel Ondswedder filled the No 8 position. In the backs Robbie Ingham moved into the centre and the back three was made up of Ethan Martin, Danny McBride and Paul Johnston, the latter making a welcome return to the 1st XV after a couple of seasons out through injury. Sam Ingham, Davy Skipp and Aaron McKee took their seats on the bench.

The Dee started strongly and quickly got the scoreboard ticking when Rudi Ioasa crashed over from a maul. The kick was converted by Matthew Pentland. Five minutes later it was Nathan Boyd’s turn as he finished off a fine move involving several players. Try number three came after 15 minutes when after some excellent offloading down the right wing Sam Moore broke away and scampered under the posts. Pentland converted to push the score to 19-0 in Dee’s favour.

The Dee had the bonus point wrapped up after 22 minutes when fullback Danny McBride intercepted a pass inside his own 22 and sprinted all the way to the line to give Pentland the easiest of conversions. The lead was extended once again when outhalf Harry McCracken darted through a gap in Inishowen’s defence. Pentland again was successful with the conversion to give the Dee a 33-0 lead.

To their credit the young Inishowen team did not let their heads drop and in the last 15 minutes of the half Dee’s defensive attributes were tested on several occasions. On one of these occasions the Inishowen outhalf managed to slip through a couple of would-be tacklers to score under the posts. The successful conversion left the half time score 33-7 to the Dee.

The second half began well for the Dee when Roberts burst through and popped the ball to Ondswedder who ran in to touch down. For the next fifteen minutes both teams saw some possession and territory but neither team were able to break through to score. However, eventually it was the Dee who broke the deadlock when Bryn McCartney forced his way over after inishowen were penalised for a high tackle.

As the game entered the final quarter it was the Dee who finished the stronger and ran in four more tries. Ondswedder scored his second try after a good offload from Sam Ingham. Then Matthew Stockton broke through the line and raced away to touch down. Pentland added to his individual points tally when he collected a long pass from Robbie Ingham and rounded the last defender. The final score of the day came in the last play when the returning Paul Johnston showed his strength by forcing his way over the line.

A convincing win for the Dee, however, the scoreline does not reflect the effort and commitment that the Inishowen men put into the game, for which they should be commended.

Again this week there were several contenders for man of the match but this week it goes to the imperious Daniel Ondswedder, who showed what a good player he is in both defence and attack. Next week the Dee travel to Strabane for a 2.30 k.o.